Kansas State University

Highlights from the Dec. 8 Faculty Senate meeting

Submitted by Faculty Senate

Previous minutes are available on the Faculty Senate website as they are approved.

Guest: Provost and Senior Vice President April Mason spoke to senators about two main topics at their request. One was regarding the associate provost for diversity position and possible changes to the role and structure.  She also discussed how the university will balance the need for diversity, inclusivity and academic freedom.

 Consent Agenda:

• President Elect Andy Bennett presented the consent agenda, which was approved. It included changes from the colleges of Agriculture; Arts & Sciences; Architecture, Planning & Design; Business Administration; Education; Human Ecology; and Technology and Aviation and the School of Applied and Interdisciplinary Studies.

 Standing committee and Student Senate reports: 

• Academic Affairs: Senator Teresa Hartman reported that Curriculog has been purchased and an implementation team is being created. Academic Affairs discussed the class attendance policy as related to absences due to religious observances. No change will be made to current policy. The calendar committee reported back that the additional two-day fall break will not move forward at this time. Hartman presented for a vote changes to the University Honors Program, a new Secondary Major in Global Food Systems Leadership, a new Master of Arts in Teaching, and a new Professional Science Master in Applied Science and Technology. All were approved.
• Faculty Affairs: Senator Mindy Markham reported the committee has finished their review of University Handbook, Section C and the revisions have been sent forward to the Office of General Counsel for input. It is their hope to have the section approved by Faculty Senate in the spring. An update was given regarding possible handbook language to address situations that occur from a social media storm. Faculty Affairs will devote more time to this in the spring.
• Professional Staff Affairs (PSA): Senator Mary Anne Andrews reported that the committee met jointly with the Faculty Senate's General University Caucus once again, as they have found this to be beneficial; this will likely be done monthly. At their second November meeting they had Cheryl Johnson, Shanna Legleiter and Alma Deutsch in attendance to discuss various topics, including guidelines for a telecommuting policy and salary and job families for professional staff. Human Capital Services, or HCS, was happy to receive their input on these very important topics. 
• FSCOT: Senator Don Crawford updated senators on improvements to CANVAS involving Scantron Version 3.  Also, employees are strongly encouraged to have a backup of their data and files, especially in view of harmful viruses. Crash Plan was also mentioned as an alternative method to traditional computer backups.
• FSCOUP: Senator Spencer Wood directed attention to the letter that was sent to administration with the join recommendations for use of city/university funds. Faculty Senate looks forward to using this process once again next year. Cindy Bontrager, Sue Peterson and Ronnie Grice were present at their December meeting and the discussion focused on concerns about concealed carry on campus in the future; this was in follow up to the November meeting. Use of email in contacting legislators was discussed as well as the draft smoking policy. 
• Student Senate: Senator Kurt Lockwood reported that the student senate has had their last meeting for the fall. A resolution regarding smoking on campus was deferred until spring so that more input could be received from students. The results from the student survey conducted by the Docking Institute regarding guns on campus are being processed.     

 New Business:

• A resolution was presented to Faculty Senate regarding smoking on campus. After lengthy discussion, the resolution passed.

 Announcements

• None

 Discussion period for senators.

•   None.

Fred Guzek
Faculty Senate President
Professor
Salina Arts, Science, and Business
Kansas State University
104A Tech Center
Salina, KS 67401